Book: A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ ~ Walter M. Miller, Jr.
This is a novel I’ve been meaning to read for about ten years. I had been under the the assumption that the book explored trying to make sense of history from scraps of everyday life, such as to-do lists, correspondence, office memos and other bits, but instead it is primarily is a Catholic Science Fiction novel (again, Catholic, not Christian as in the Left Behind books, a significant difference). Reading this from an anti-theist/agnostic viewpoint was very interesting for me. I’m unsure if Miller was a supporter or an opponent of the Catholic Church. At times the book was ambiguous, but Miller is on the pro-Catholic Church side. (In the old paperback version I read, there’s a notation that a Catholic Digest edition was printed in 1960, something I doubt they would have done had the novel been less complimentary to the Church.)
As with many good SF novels I’ve read, it takes a few chapters at the beginning of each major book of A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ to grasp the plot. (I’ve accepted that it’s okay to be confused at first while reading good SF.) This may sound like a backhanded compliment, but this novel is expertly written for science fiction. (There’s a lot of poorly written SF.) The descriptions of the post-nuclear holocaust world are vivid, and the dialogue between the characters has actual tension. Sure, I didn’t always agree with the monks’ decisions (such as to protest the use of euthanasia for blast and radiation victims, or the need to maintain Catholicism to the end of the earth (literally)), I empathized with their plights over the thousand years’ span of the novel.
In all, a very good, somewhat difficult read and a necessary novel for any basic Science Fiction foundation.
My only difficulty with A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ was the use of Latin throughout the novel. Each book has a Latin title which was easily translated (with a little Google): Fiat Homo (Let there be man); FiatLux (Let there be light); and Fiat Voluntas Tia (Let Thy Will be Done), but there are also chants, prayers, and important plot points written in Latin. For example, in book three, a crucial plan is called “Quo Peregrinatur Grex” which translates as either “Whither Wanders the Flock” or “Where the Flock Goes, the Sheppards Go”. It’s possible that when A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ was published as a novel in 1960 (after being published as short stories in the late 1950s), readers were more likely to understand Latin, especially Catholic Church-related Latin due to masses given in that language. I am unsure of what the most recently published versions of the novel look like, but it would be a great help if they foot- or endnoted the more difficult Latin passages. After finishing the novel, I still wonder if I “missed” any important details because of my poor Latin skills (it’s been a long time since Freshman year in high school). However, it’s possible to find guides to the Latin used in A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ on the web. However, proceed with caution if you don’t want to have the book spoiled.
